What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

In summary, we put in a huge garden and had a green thumb from the get-go. We still have a garden, although it's a little smaller now. We mainly grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers. I've been a pretty avid gardener at times but not for eating, just for looking.
  • #631
I had a robin so plump with eggs, I thought I was going to half to help her get to the top of the fence. She was so cute.
I don't think I'm going to do much of a garden this year, tomatoes and some herbs may be about all.
 
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  • #632
What happened with those ducks?
 
  • #633
My tomato seedlings are doing well, as are the basil seedlings. I need to go out this week and get more pots to transplant the tomatoes...they're ready to go into small pots rather than the starter pack. The oregano I've started is still scrawny, but it's hard to tell since even as a grown-up, oregano tends to look scrawny. The lavender didnt' make it...the seeds got moldy rather than sprouting. Oh well, I still have seeds left, so will probably just dump them on the ground outside and see if anything happens. The tomatoes are the important ones from my perspective. :biggrin:

If they all keep doing well, I'm going to need to get a LOT of planters for the deck this summer. :biggrin: I HOPE so! I have some zucchini seeds too, and am just going to plant them near the privacy fence and see if they do anything (the soil here isn't very good and since I'm just renting, I don't want to put a lot of effort into making it better...a seed packet is cheap enough to just see what happens).
 
  • #634
Evo said:
What happened with those ducks?
Check the wildlife photo thread.
 
  • #635
Since it warmed up some, I put all the plants and seedlings out on the patio, we are now under a sever storm alert with hail and 50mph winds. I have just finished carrying all of the wet plants back inside my living room. At least they aren't planted in the ground, so I'm going to look on the positive side.
 
  • #636
It is currently 75 deg in the shade, and much warmer in the sun. This is the highest temperature of the year to date. The snow is almost entirely gone from the garden and I checked under the mulch, and my garlic is already up about 2" Yay!
 
  • #637
It's only 56F here.
 
  • #638
We're supposed to get snow for the next three days, if that makes you fell better.
 
  • #639
NeoDevin said:
We're supposed to get snow for the next three days, if that makes you fell better.
Yes, thank you, it does! :smile:
 
  • #640
It's 76°F here. I just came back inside from laying out in the sun for a couple of hours... It feels good! Doubt it'll last much longer though.
 
  • #641
I have been putting my compost in a rubbermaid garbage can since late winter and this afternoon I transferred that into the two compost bins. The last of the snow melted out of the garden this evening (finally!) while my wife and I were basking in the sun on the back deck. The garden is muddy, but it will dry enough to let me add soil amendments and till well before Memorial Day (my target planting day).
 
  • #642
Wow, this thread is great! I can't wait to get planting and digging. This thread is making the spring fever even worse.

If I may ask, what is everyone's ONE favorite thing to grow? (I know its hard to pick just one, I *DO* like asking tough questions) :D
 
  • #643
My favorite thing to grow is chili peppers - jalapenos for general use and habaneros for my really wonderful chili relishes. Second-favorite (and I just started with last winter's planting) is German and Russian garlic - they are fantastic in cooking, and chili relishes and salsas. Next is tomatoes, and then things fall apart quickly. Where do cucumbers, winter squash, beans, Swiss chard, beets and beet greens, etc all fall?
 
  • #644
Ms Music said:
Wow, this thread is great! I can't wait to get planting and digging. This thread is making the spring fever even worse.

If I may ask, what is everyone's ONE favorite thing to grow? (I know its hard to pick just one, I *DO* like asking tough questions) :D

A daughter... :wink: ?

Ah, plants. Well that would HAVE to be the tomato. So good to eat a real one now and then, rather than the hard, odorless, tasteless ones we get at the grocery!
 
  • #645
I'm planning on doing some gardening, we just moved to a house that sits on a 1/2 acre, right now we're renting it, but might buy it in the next few months. if not hopefully we can land a house on at least half an acre, 3 acres a little out of town would rock, i can sit in the back yard in the night with a telescope and in the daytime do some gardening :approve:

I'd really love to grow a lemon tree oh and some cherries wouldn't be too bad
 
  • #646
For vegetables, I love eggplant. They are a beautiful plant with nice purple flowers and I love the taste of eggplant. Even if you don't eat eggplant, they are pretty as an ornamental, I started planting them in the flower bed.

Home grown turnips are nice too, but after that last crop with root maggots. <shudder>
 

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  • #647
For edibles, I love growing peppers (though I never seem to have much luck starting them from seed, they sprout, then die off). Plants in general I would have to go with rose bushes, and anything else with large thorns. Too bad all my rose bushes were killed by spider mites.
 
  • #648
Evo said:
For vegetables, I love eggplant. They are a beautiful plant with nice purple flowers and I love the taste of eggplant. Even if you don't eat eggplant, they are pretty as an ornamental, I started planting them in the flower bed.


Home grown turnips are nice too, but after that last crop with root maggots. <shudder>
:-p
 
  • #649
lisab said:
A daughter... :wink: ?

Ah, plants. Well that would HAVE to be the tomato. So good to eat a real one now and then, rather than the hard, odorless, tasteless ones we get at the grocery!

Same here! Nothing better than a fresh off the vine tomato! I'm being overly optimistic about my chances of getting a lot of good tomatoes to grow in containers though, and got a pressure cooker this year so if I get enough, I can can whatever I get over and above what I can eat fresh for making sauces in the winter. :approve:
 
  • #650
Hi Lisab, sounds like someone figured out my little secret?

Yes, tomatoes from the garden have to be the best! Grocery store tomatoes are nasty vile evil things!

Evo, I can sympathize with you, my dad had a problem with broccoli one year, and I just am not that thrilled to plant it even after 30 years!

I used to say my favorite was green beans, peas, and crookneck squash was a must for freshness, but now the organic section occasionally has somewhat edible selection, but they always must be in my garden! But I think now my favorite is berries. Vine ripened raspberries, blueberries, or figs are better than chocolate.

NeoDevin - thorns? Do you have teenagers also? ;)
 
  • #651
Ms Music said:
I used to say my favorite was green beans, peas, and crookneck squash was a must for freshness, but now the organic section occasionally has somewhat edible selection, but they always must be in my garden! But I think now my favorite is berries. Vine ripened raspberries, blueberries, or figs are better than chocolate.
There are lots of wild blackberries and wild raspberries on my property and on the forested lot across the road from my place. When the blackberries are peaking, I can easily pick a gallon of fully ripe berries every two days. Heaven! I load my chest freezers with berries, fruits and vegetables all through the growing season, so when my wife does the marketing, she only needs to buy staples that we don't bother to grow, like yellow onions, potatoes, etc, plus rice, pasta, flour, and spices. We have been using our frozen herbs from last season, and those are working out well. It's nice to go to the freezer for a handful of cilantro, parsley, dill, etc.
 
  • #652
I am currently growing peaches, blueberries, raspberries, onions, lettuce, basil, thyme, marjoram.

Anyone else grow onions? This is the first year I have tried onions. How do you know when to pick them?
 
  • #653
We buy onions because we use more than we could grow conveniently, so I'm no help. I planted a 35' row of spinach today. It is very frost-hardy, and it gets tough and stringy if it's exposed to heat, so I'd like to harvest in early June if possible.
 
  • #654
my nectarine is blooming

nectarine2.jpg



my peach is blooming

peach.jpg



And the magnolia is in full bloom

magnolia.jpg


now, I hope it doesn't freeze
 
  • #655
Evo said:
For vegetables, I love eggplant. They are a beautiful plant with nice purple flowers and I love the taste of eggplant. Even if you don't eat eggplant, they are pretty as an ornamental, I started planting them in the flower bed.

Home grown turnips are nice too, but after that last crop with root maggots. <shudder>
I loved growing eggplant too. They are carefree plants and don't require staking.
Rosemary is a beautiful bush when blooming too. I have it in my front flower garden as an accent to my tulips and daffodils.
 
  • #656
rewebster said:
And the magnolia is in full bloom

magnolia.jpg


now, I hope it doesn't freeze
Wow! That's a lot of blooms on the magnolia! What kind is it?
 
  • #657
larkspur said:
Wow! That's a lot of blooms on the magnolia! What kind is it?

Abigone
 
  • #659
rewebster said:
Abigone
What's an Abigone?
 
  • #660
a-big-one
 
  • #661
rewebster said:
a-big-one

:smile::smile::rolleyes:
 
  • #662
rewebster said:
a-big-one
Ba-dum-bum tssshhh
 
  • #663
Evo said:
Ba-dum-bum tssshhh

was there supposed to be an 'it' on the end of that?


or was it implied?
 
  • #664
rewebster said:
was there supposed to be an 'it' on the end of that?


or was it implied?
Neither, that was my impression of a cymbal.
 
  • #665
we all have symbols


(of one thing or another, don't we?)
 

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